PITCHED into one of the most demanding market segments in the world, the high performance Audi S8 luxury saloon is an astonishing creation.

Featuring just about every bit of performance and premium bling imaginable, the S8 is one of those cars only ever enjoyed by drivers who are able to afford its £78,635 pricetag but for those lucky enough to be in this bracket the car is a tour de force of just what Audi is capable of these days.

Competing against the likes of Jaguar, BMW and Mercedes-Benz, the Audi S8 Quattro I drove featured a shattering 520ps output from its 4.0-litre V8 engine which was able to propel it to a top speed limited to 155mph with a 0-62mph sprint 4.1 seconds which is very quick for such a big car.

The big petrol V8 features an aluminium block with direct injection, double overhead camshafts, exhaust turbocharger, demand-controlled high-pressure and low pressure fuel system and Audi's clever cylinder-on-demand system.

This means that under low power use only part of the V8 is in use. Put your foot down and the lot come on line for very definite punch in the back acceleration.

The S8 is part of the new A8 range which features even more power than previously, greater fuel efficiency for the majority of models plus EU6 exhaust emissions compliance.

The gutsy 4.0-litre is not the largest engine in the line-up because there is a flagship 6.3-litre W12 priced from £97,325 which is actually slightly less powerful than the V8

It was not so many years ago that the doom and gloom brigade were predicting the end of big petrol-engined cars, but just how wrong they were. Technical excellence with a modicum of economy engineering has won through in the end and for the foreseeable future these kings of the road will reign supreme.

The range combines revisions to its weight-optimised, predominantly aluminium Audi Space Frame (ASF) body with a raft of technological advances including new MatrixBeam LED headlights.

Subtle resculpting of the bonnet, the single frame grille, the bumper and the lower edge of the headlight units has sharpened the frontal view of the new generation A8.

The visual appeal, visibility and active safety of the new generation A8 can also now be enhanced by new headlights employing MatrixBeam Light Emitting Diode (LED) technology which sets new benchmarks.

The high-beam function in these unique headlights uses 25 individual LEDs per unit that can be switched on and off or dimmed individually depending on the situation.

This enables the headlight system to react extremely precisely to other vehicles while always brightly illuminating the road. When the on-board camera detects other vehicles ahead, the Audi MatrixBeam LED headlights mask the relevant sections of the high-beam by dimming or shutting off individual diodes while very bright illumination is preserved in the remaining zones.